Students from the University of Birmingham are taking part in an esteemed international youth leadership programme in China this month.

Pioneered by Beijing Normal University, the International Leadership Programme is a distinctive initiative to promote cross-cultural communication and collaborative research amongst students from world–leading universities.

Joining contemporaries from Beijing Normal, Harvard and Oxford Universities, the Birmingham students will spend three weeks developing their cross-cultural understanding, research and decision-making skills, and social responsibility for their own countries and the wider world.

The first two weeks of the programme are taking place at Beijing Normal’s Zhuhai campus in Guangdong province with the final week on its main Beijing campus. Features of the programme include a lecture series on youth leadership, self-designed research projects, cultural visits and Chinese language skills.

Accompanying the students, Dr Kevin Myers, senior lecturer in social history and education from the School of Education at the University of Birmingham, said: “The International Youth Leadership Programme enables students to practise meaningful intercultural communication. They learn about themselves and about others by developing a collaborative research projects which takes them out into the local community in Zhuhai.”

“The students are working on a range of topics from water preservation to supplementary education and the protection of cultural heritage. In doing so, they are exploring the consequences of globalisation and assessing future development prospects in the region. The programme has been carefully designed and supported by our colleagues at Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai and is a tangible example of the benefits of developing relationships with academic partners around the world.”